Aussies out for revenge in Davis Cup final

First, that last-minute loss to England in the World Cup Rugby final, then Steve Waugh's shock announcement that he was quitting cricket.

But this weekend, Australia's Davis Cup team will hopefully ease the pain when it meets Spain in the final of tennis's Holy Grail starting in Melbourne tomorrow.

Australia last won the cup from France four years ago and its bid this time will be spearheaded by former world number one Lleyton Hewitt and the man who's always promised great things but never quite delivered, apart from one previous Davis Cup win ... Mark Philippoussis.

Victory at home would be particularly sweet for Hewitt, who had to endure the rowdiest and most partisan crowds ever seen in Davis Cup when Australia went down to Spain in Barcelona three years ago.

Mary Gearin reports.

MARY GEARIN: Australia's other Davis Cup team, the fans, are busy toning up the tonsils for a rematch of their own.

They've waited three years for their chance to avenge the Australians' bruising encounter with the Spanish, not just the players, but the baying Catalan crowd.

The chanting and all that kind of stuff is one thing, but to actually spit, you know, and throw things at you.

When the players say, you know, "You're f...ing dead," it gets quite scary.

MARY GEARIN: The small band of green and gold globetrotters, called 'The Fanatics', are serious about their responsibilities to the team.

Is there any element of payback in this tie?

WARREN LIVINGSTONE: I think so.

We have to be careful, obviously.

Australians are a bit different, I think.

Probably a little more passive, but also a bit fairer.

LLEYTON HEWITT: There's no way 'The Fanatics' could behave that badly.

MARY GEARIN: In Barcelona, Lleyton Hewitt was the first to experience the crowd's fury.

LLEYTON HEWITT: I was telling 'Newk' today, I wanted it so badly, just to get some revenge.

Having to put up with so much shit out here, it's an unbelievable feeling.

I can't tell you how happy I am.

MARY GEARIN: Hewitt went on to lose his crucial return singles match in the cauldron, his handshake spurned at the net.

LLEYTON HEWITT: It takes you a while to get over it, but it's always stored in the memory bank.

ALEX CORRETJA, SPANISH DAVIS CUP PLAYER: I apologised to him, to Pat already a few times.

I think everything it's done and now our relationship is polite and everything.

LLEYTON HEWITT: You know, this is a totally different tie in a totally different country on a different surface.

MARY GEARIN: That's been Australia's threat right from the start.

JOHN NEWCOMBE: Next time we play, you better be prepared to play on what the cow's eat.

MARY GEARIN: This has always been touted as the Aussies' fifth player ... good old couch, to speed the ball, but tame the bounce of the Spanish clay aficionados.

MARK PHILIPPOUSSIS, DAVIS CUP PLAYER: It was exciting walking out and seeing the grass court.

It made me feel good.

MARY GEARIN: The man responsible is Murray MacFarlane, who has grown grass courts for 16 Davis Cups, an understated chap much prized by captain John Fitzgerald.

JOHN FITZGERALD: He's a turf genius, Murray, he's brilliant.

MURRAY MACFARLANE, GRASSCOURT CONSULTANT: It's very nice of him to say that.

Obviously I have a fair understanding of lawn tennis courts after all this time, but certainly not a genius.

MARY GEARIN: The Australian players have declared themselves happy with the court, although in practice they've had to cope with the surface being thicker, therefore, slower, before it gets mown down one meticulous millimetre a day.

In any case, maybe our secret weapon is not as loyal as we might like to believe.

JOHN NEWCOMBE: The first thing you have to understand about Murray is that he's from New Zealand, you know, so we have to be --

MARY GEARIN: Loyalties are divided?

JOHN NEWCOMBE: You have to be a little careful with Murray.

Murray leaves the grass very long early in the week because he doesn't want you upsetting his grass.

He couldn't care less about your practice sessions ... he wants that grass court perfect on day one.

Roachy and I used to look for him and say, "Get your mower out here, Murray, "and we want that grass how it's going to be on day one."

As soon as he saw us anywhere he would just run and hide.

We'd have to find out where he was hiding so we could get him.

MURRAY MACFARLANE: I'd like to see out of it what the Australian team would like to see out of it.

We try to produce a classic grass court.

When you play a country like Spain, that's deemed as an advantage, but we don't play around with it to disadvantage anyone.

MARY GEARIN: MacFarlane is used to copping flak.

In 2001, the French had the gall to point out the deficiencies of his then one-year-old world first portable court, which knits together 65 two-metre-square modules.

GUY FORGET, FRANCE DAVIS CUP CAPTAIN: We can already see spots that size, of clay, you know, with no grass at all, already.

MARY GEARIN: Then, incredibly, the invaders beat us on our own treasured turf.

Is it fair to say the mystique about Australians on grass was damaged by the loss to France in 2001?

JOHN NEWCOMBE: Yes, I think so.

I think the French broke that a little bit.

It was interesting because in 1999 we beat France on clay in Nice and now here they come back and beat us on grass in Australia.

It would be quite disappointing to lose two finals on grass to European nations when we have been so dominant on grass.

It's been a costly venture to produce the grass and have it ready to put into the stadium.

It definitely was the right decision against France, you know, and it is the right decision against Spain, but there are other telling factors at stake here that could play a part in the result.

MARY GEARIN: Such as Lleyton Hewitt coming off a 2-month break and a core of Spanish experience in world number three Juan Carlos Ferrero and world number seven Carlos Moya.

But helped by an older, more stable court, and a shed full of revved up Fanatics, one of our most experienced players is promising a classic Davis Cup final.

TODD WOODBRIDGE, DAVIS CUP PLAYER: It's one of the rare occasions when we are playing tennis, because you are playing as individuals, that you can get out in a team sport and get behind them and use the energy.

JOHN FITZGERALD: There's only ever been 91 players in the history of our sport in this country that have represented Australia at Davis Cup level.

It's a small group over 90 or 100 years.

I think all of these players feel that.

There's a sense of history, I think, in this team.

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